Authorizes the department of veterans' affairs to provide eligible veterans with financial assistance for purchasing, training and the upkeep of service dogs and emotional support dogs.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4717
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 14, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. SANDERS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Veterans, Homeland Securi-
ty and Military Affairs
AN ACT to amend the veterans' services law, in relation to authorizing
the department of veterans' services to provide eligible veterans with
financial assistance for purchasing, training and the upkeep of
service dogs and emotional support dogs
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The veterans' services law is amended by adding a new
2 section 29-b to read as follows:
3 § 29-b. Service dog and emotional support dog grant assistance. 1.
4 For the purposes of this section, the term "service dog" shall have the
5 same meaning as provided for in subdivision seven of section forty-sev-
6 en-b of the civil rights law.
7 2. For the purposes of this section, the term "emotional support dog"
8 shall mean a dog providing therapeutic support to an owner.
9 3. The department shall provide eligible veterans with: (a) grant
10 assistance of up to seven thousand five hundred dollars for the purchase
11 and training of a service dog from an organization providing service
12 dogs for post-traumatic stress disorder and/or traumatic brain injury;
13 or (b) grant assistance of up to five thousand dollars for the purchase
14 and training of a service dog from a professional service dog trainer or
15 an owner-trainer. The department shall provide eligible veterans receiv-
16 ing grant assistance pursuant to this subdivision with an amount of not
17 less than fifty dollars a month for the continued upkeep of the service
18 dog as long as the eligible veteran is in possession of the service dog.
19 4. The department shall provide eligible veterans with grant assist-
20 ance of up to five hundred dollars for the purchase and training of an
21 emotional support dog, as well as an amount of not less than thirty-five
22 dollars a month for the continued upkeep of the emotional support dog as
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07812-01-3
S. 4717 2
1 long as the eligible veteran is in possession of the emotional support
2 dog.
3 5. To be eligible to receive grant assistance under this section, an
4 individual must:
5 (a) be a veteran, which, for the purposes of this section, shall mean
6 resident of this state who served on active duty in the United States
7 army, navy, marine corps, air force, coast guard or the reserves compo-
8 nent, or who served in active military service of the United States as a
9 member of the army national guard, air national guard, New York guard or
10 New York naval militia, who was released from such service other than by
11 dishonorable discharge;
12 (b) receive a diagnosis from a licensed physician or licensed mental
13 health professional of post-traumatic stress disorder, a traumatic brain
14 injury, or both, causing a disability as that term is defined in subdi-
15 vision twenty-one of section two hundred ninety-two of the executive
16 law;
17 (c) receive a letter from a licensed physician or licensed mental
18 health provider certifying that the individual would benefit from the
19 use of a service dog or emotional support dog; and
20 (d) have an annual income of fifty thousand dollars or less.
21 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
22 it shall have become a law; provided however, if section 2 of part PP of
23 chapter 56 of the laws of 2022 shall not have taken effect on or before
24 such date, this act shall take effect on the same date and in the same
25 manner as such section of such part of such chapter of the laws of 2022
26 takes effect. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
27 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
28 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
29 on or before such effective date.
